About SongU.com
Our History
When Danny and I (Sara) met in 1988, we were both graduate students at Rutgers University in New Jersey. I was completing a Masters degree in education and Danny was working on his Masters thesis in computer music. At the time, our musical tastes differed quite a bit, but that didn't stop us from falling in love with each other. We also discovered a common interest in songwriting.
In 1989, on an ASCAP scholarship, Danny attended a week-long songwriting retreat run by Billy Edd Wheeler ("Coward of the County") called "The Great Smokies Song Chase" in Swannanoa, NC. He returned excited and amazed by the fact that there were other songwriters all over the country experiencing similar feelings about songwriting as we were. He also met an incredible faculty of professional songwriters and publishers who were willing to take the time out of their busy schedules to share their knowledge and mentor new and aspiring writers. Billy Edd asked Danny to develop some music classes for songwriters and return the next summer as part of the faculty. I, his new bride, returned with him that summer and every summer for the next three years of the retreat's existence (it has since evolved into the "Swannanoa Gathering"). In the meantime, I had started taking lyric writing classes in New York with well-known songwriting instructor, Sheila Davis, author of "The Craft Of Lyric Writing.” Sheila became another mentor to me, and I began to understand that songwriting is a craft in which our skills can be fine-tuned and improved.
It was our initial experience of being involved in a nurturing songwriting community and being mentored by honest and giving songwriting professionals that led Danny and I to want to give our heart and souls to songwriting, become professional songwriters and extend our own teaching backgrounds to include songwriting education.
Why SongU.com?
Over the years, Danny and I have become professional songwriters,
currently writing for companies such as Zamalama Music and Curb
Magnatone Music in Nashville, TN. We have been fortunate enough to have
our songs recorded by several artists, including a chart-topping country
hit by John Michael Montgomery, “Home To You.” We have also written
songs for theater and received a Tony Award nomination for Best Original
Score for the Broadway show Urban Cowboy, The Musical. We have taught
songwriting classes and seminars at Belmont University and Vanderbilt
University in Nashville and Berklee College in Boston as well as
co-authored an educational tape series, The Songwriters Survival Kit. We
have also developed lessons, mentored and taught for songwriting groups
all over the country and abroad, and hold year-round songwriting classes
and workshops from our home studio. When we first posted our course
schedules on the web back in 1994 at www.craftofsongwriting.com, we also
added articles we had written and a chatroom that hosted special guests
with our co-sponsor MusesMuse.com. We soon realized that the sense of
songwriting community that we loved so much could extend over the far
reaches of the World Wide Web. We also began getting requests to take
our classes from songwriters worldwide. This is when we realized that
there is a desire and a need for e-learning distance education for
songwriters. The seeds for SongU.com were planted and there was no
turning back. Luckily, Danny had simultaneously continued honing his
computer skills since his graduate school days. In fact, he and
co-developer, Martin Bell (another music-loving, songwriting, computer
dude) were both winners of the prestigious Innovations Award for
Distance Education from the state of Tennessee. This has allowed us to
develop a website that meets our own high standards of quality and
professionalism. We are proud of this accomplishment and excited about
having the opportunity to offer to you what we feel is a valid and
valuable aspect of songwriting – distance education. We hope you allow
SongU.com to become a supportive, fun and rewarding community for you.
We encourage you to share your thoughts with us as we develop and grow
to accommodate them.
Thank you for taking the time to visit us.
Sincerely,
Sara Light
President and Co-founder
SongU.com
